Fountain-pen attachment.



T. E. NIELSEN.

.FOUNTAIN PEN ATTACHMENT.

APPLIUATION FILED IAB. 21, 1913.

Patented Sept. 29, 1914.

WI TIIESSES 7 INYENTOR n romvsr mnrrnn STATES. PATENT QFFICE.

rnonvano E. NIELSEN, or wnsmneroir, ms'rn re'r or. COLUMBIA, ASSIGNOR orour:- HALF 'ro nmonr A. BRYANT, or wasnmeron, ms'rarc'r or eommnm.

FOUNTAIN-PEN ATTACHMENT.

Specification of Letters ratent. Patented Sept, 29, 191 4,

Application filed March 21, 1913. Serial No. 755,925.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known'that I, THORVALD E. NIELSEN, a citizen of the United States,residing at Washington, District of Columbia, have invented certain newand useful Improvements in Fountain-Pen Attachments, of which thefollowing is a specification.

This invention has for its object to provide a device for use inconnection with fountain pens designed to prevent an ex cessive flow andleakage of ink from the barrel or reservoir of the pen, and also tocause the ink to feed freely until the supply is entirely exhausted.

The invention also has for its object to providean extremely simple andinexpensive device of the kind stated, and one which is entirelyseparate and independent of the pen, so that it may be applied to anyordinary fountain pen without in the least altering or modifying thestructure thereof.

In order that the invention may be better understood, reference is hadto the accompanying drawing in which- Figure. 1, is a longitudinalsection of a fountain pen provided with the device; Fig. 2 is aperspective view of the device removed from the pen: Fig. 3 is a crosssection on the line 33 of Fig. 2; Fig. 4 is a longitudinal section of a.fountain pen provided with a modified form of the device, and Fig. 5 isa cross-section on the line 55 of Fig. 4.

Referring specifically to the drawing, 10,

denotes the barrel or ink reservoir of an ordinary fountain pen providedwith the usual nib-holding part 11. Y

The device for preventing excessive flow and leakage of ink from thebarrel 10, in its preferred form, as shown in Figs. 1 to 3,

comprises a slender rod 12 made of some material which will not absorbink. The rod is also buoyant so that it will float. Buoyancy may beobtained by making the rod hollow and closed at its ends. The rodcarries laterally projecting blades or fins 13 which are secured bymeans of tapered'pins 14 extending from the base thereof and driven intoapertures in the rod to make a tight fit. The blades are set obliquelyon the rod and'extend alternately in opposite directions.

The modified form of device shown in Figs. 4 and 5 comprises a rod 15which is hexagonal in cross-section and is held stationary in the barrel10 by a spring 16 secured at one end to the rod and pressing atits otherend against the wall of the barrel, thus holding the rod in frictionalcontactagalnst that portion of the wall of the barrel which isdiametrically opposite the portion of said wall against which the freeend of the spring bears. This form of device also has wmgs 17'which maybe dovetailed into a slit in one side of the red as shown in Fig. 5. Therod may be made of a strip of suitable non-absorbent material which isbent to the cross-sectional shape shown, and the wings are held in placeby friction.

When a fountain pen is in constant use and when there is a constant [lowor ink, there is gradually formed a partial vacuum above the ink in thebarrel, assuming the barrel is held in writing position at all times,and in consequence of the vacuum, the air rushes through the feed duct,and as the suction due to the vacuum is destroyed, the ink held by suchsuction is free to move down so that it presses suddenly with its entireweight against the nib-holding part and its feed duct; and a portion ofthe ink is forced out of said duct and escapes over the nib. This flowcontinues until an equilibrium is again established under the new volumeof air entering the barrel, but from the beginning of the excess flow,until the barrel is empty, the pen will feed in excess of the amountrequired for ordinary writ-- ing. This objectionable feature, which istraction on the ink, which prevents an ex cessive flow, when the pen,otherwise, would feed too fast and permit the ink to fall in drops. Thewings on the rod tend to further retard the motion of the ink bydeflecting it, and by the additional capillary attraction they exert onthe ink.

The upward pull on the ink due to the. capillary attraction tends todecrease the weight of the entire column of ink, but this upward pullmust be overcome before the ink can move down in the barrel, and theforce exerted by the volume of air rushing in and destroying the vacuum,is gradually and nearly exhausted before the upward capillary pull hasbeen overcome, and consequently there is no sudden downward movement ofthe ink itself as a whole, but a gradual adjustment takes place and noink is forced out of-the feed duct since the ink is never violentlyagitated. The device adds a capillary force inside the barrel, and assaid force is exerted at the upper surface of the ink, it acts as amembrane which must be moved by the in-rushing volume of air before anydownward movement of ink is possible, and since this is only graduallyefi'ected, it follows that there will be a gradual downward movement ofthe ink, and the entire column of ink is at rest before any part of itcan force its Way out of the feed uct.

The floating rod 12 adjusts itself to the changed positions of the penand clings to the sideof the barrel, and the rod 15 is held against theside of the barrel by the spring 16; Thus the maximum capillary actioncaused by the rods and the side of the barrel is obtained at all times.With the floating rod, the wings cause the rod to move more or less withthe ink and consequently it takes up a position in which it can act withthe greatest advantage. The lower ends ofthe rods are in proximity tothe nib-holding part 11, so that the capillary action, clue to theproximity of said ends of the rod to the feed duct, empties said duct ofall the ink contained therein except that which is held at the extremeouter end between the feed bar and the pen-nib. Thus, the ink isprevented from being forced out into the pennib protecting cap when thepen is carried in the pocket and the air within the barrel expands bythe heat from the persons body.

The device is entirely independent of the pen and may be applied to anyordinary fountain pen. It will, of course, be understood that the deviceas'illustrated can be varied in construction within considerable limits,without departure from the spirit and scope of the invention, and I donot, therefore, wish to be considered as limiting myself to the specificdetails of construction except as pointed out in the claims.

I claim:

1. The combination with the barrel of a fountain pen, of afeed-controlling device comprising a rod-like member wholly within thebarrel, and attracting the ink in the barrel by capillarity, said membernormally seating against one side of the barrel and having a relativelysmall diameter, and being of such length as to extend throughout themajor portion of the length of the barrel, one end of the member beingnormally in proximity to the nib end of the barrel.

2. The combination with the barrel of a fountain pen, of afeed-controlling device comprising a buoyant, rod-like member ofrelatively small diameter, wholly within the barrel, and attracting theink in the barrel by capillarity, said member being of such length as toextend throughout the major portion of the length of the barrel, one endof the member being normally in proximity to the nib end of the barrel.

3. As a new article of manufacture, a feed-controlling device forfountain pens comprising a rod-like member attracting the ink bycapillarity, said member being independent of the pen and adapted to beplaced in the barrel thereof, and having laterally projecting deflectingwings.

In testimony whereof I aiiix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

THORVALD E. NIELSEN.

Witnesses:

EMORY A. BRYANT, RASMUS O. WHITE.

